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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Today is Presidents’ Day. We celebrate George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Both were remarkable leaders. They happened to be born ten days apart, Lincoln on February 12th and Washington on February 22nd. It is a mistake to combine their birthdays into one holiday. Each should be honored separately.
There would be no United States of America without George Washington. He was the mastermind of our military strategy to defeat the British, and established the norms of American civic life after. If Washington wished, he would have been crowned a king after the Revolutionary War. It was he who insisted that the country be ruled by its citizens, not a royalty class. His example of leaving office and returning to private life as an American citizen was unheard of then. It’s the norm today.
There is no president who guided the nation through more difficult times than Abraham Lincoln. For decades the country had tried to maintain a delicate political balance between free and slave states. Lincoln’s election and his known opposition to slavery, started the Civil War. The South won all of the early battles. The outcome seemed more likely that the Confederacy would become its own country. It’s often forgotten that Lincoln turned down peace proposals after four bloody years of fighting, and used his political capital to pass the 13th Amendment banning slavery. He knew that only a constitutional amendment would do. An executive order or terms of surrender freeing those in bondage would be inadequate. He enjoyed peace once the war ended for only five days before he was assassinated.
Federal law moves all national holidays to Mondays to create long weekends. Under my proposal, Abraham Lincoln Day would be celebrated today, and George Washington Day would be celebrated on Monday, February 23rd. That would be two four-day work weeks in a row. And what’s wrong with that? We have two great Americans who happened to be born close to each other on the calendar. Let’s honor them each… individually.
Chris Conley
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